Lisa Easterbrooks

The Design and Writing lead primarily supports CARE's Education and Skills fundraising efforts by designing and writing high-value, multi-sector proposals with funding. As a key member of the Thought Leadership and Design team, the Design and Writing Lead will collaborate with multiple technical teams based at global and country levels to document CARE's evidence-based and impactful strategic approaches and programs, and support contextualization of these solutions to write winning proposals.

Lead portfolio design and resource mobilization efforts for the Education & Skills team. Lead proposal design working groups and work closely with other senior leaders and staff to integrate best practices and core strategies that are cutting-edge, duplicable, scalable, and documented with credible evidence to develop designs for program approaches. Lead positioning and thought leadership work for education and skills with key donor audiences.

• Contributed to two key thought leadership products on youth skills and workforce development demonstrating programmatic capacities and impact. • Wrote, revised, and edited a winning proposal on youth skills and training, resulting in $62 million in revenue for CARE. • Collaborated with technical teams, country offices, and bid managers to produce key capture deliverables for proposal efforts including capacity statements, proposal drafts, literature reviews, and competition analysis. • Developed strategic writing resources including components of the writing style guide, curating high-quality proposal sections for the content library, and developing standard operating procedures for in-house writers. • Contributed to the education and skills market analysis, conducting a comparative analysis of over 20 strategy documents to define our niche and improve market competitiveness.

• Contributed to 26 strategic grant proposals valued at $38 million, focused on foundational literacy and numeracy, early childhood development, education in emergencies, and girls' education. • Developed annual strategy and budget for the education unit including planning of technical support, development of technical products and services, and staff objectives and key results. • Supervised global education team. Coached over 35 global staff and decision makers leading education projects aligned with global standards in 18 countries. Leads 70-person community of practice. • Delivered two high quality teacher professional development products on literacy and numeracy instruction improving the proportion of children in grades 1-3 attaining reading skills by 28% more than the control group in 6 months. • Coordinated research on caregiver behavior change impacts on child learning and development. Delivered a presentation on this research at the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference in February 2023. • Developed an e-learning course for global education staff using instructional design principles, increasing onboarding efficiency, which has now been taken by over 200 employees.

• Provided technical and copy editing to two pre-service teacher education courses on literacy and language in Afghanistan. Module 1: Foundations of Language Development in Early Grade Education, Module 2 : Methods of Teaching Literacy in Early Grade Education.

• Provided professional services to 80 Ministry of Education personnel in Mali for USAID funded project focused on training materials on research design, planning, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of the early grade reading assessment (EGRA). • Trained 8 curriculum developers on story writing and Bloom software, resulting in a set of 24 new titles in 4 languages for USAID funded project in Niger. • Brokered new partnerships, managed client relationships, and ensured quality project deliverables and project implementation on scope and on budget. • Authored technical memo on best practices to support teacher recognition and motivation in Tanzania.

• Developed curricula for USAID funded grade 2 reading program in Niger in five languages for a USAID-funded project, impacting children and teachers in 160 schools. Materials produced include a set of leveled and decodable readers, teacher's guides and student books, alphabet charts, assessment activities, and teacher training materials. • Implement EGRA in Niger, and a Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) study on parent involvement in education in Mali on USAID funded projects contributing to revisions in project design and increased impact. • Facilitated training of 25 teachers, Ministry of Education and University staff on early grade reading in Tanzania for Food for Education Department of Agriculture funded project.

• Trained 80 teachers and Ministry of Education staff on literacy skill development for early-grade readers including phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, formative assessment, inclusive teaching practices, coaching, and teaching and learning materials. • Designed three project models focusing on girls’ education, safe and positive learning environments, and cross-sectoral adolescent programs. • Co-developed Literacy Boost Teacher Coaching guide and training program. Facilitated piloting of the program in Ghana.

• Oversaw the operations, implementation, and process improvement for the Education Transition Initiative, a multi-million-dollar, 47-country program to transition the education strategy from infrastructure support to a focus on learning outcomes. • Developed content for out-of-school youth curriculum focusing on literacy, life skills, and livelihood preparation which has become one of World Vision’s core project models used in over 10+ countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa.

• Developed literacy materials for grades 1-4 in Rwanda for USAID-funded project, including children's stories, interactive audio programs, teacher guides, and student readers. Trained a team of 12 materials developers on literacy development. • Directly managed the CDC funded project “Implementing the Living Life Skills Curriculum” (5 years, 500K annual budget) in Botswana including all administrative and technical aspects of project implementation. • Managed the USAID funded “Time to Learn” project (5 years, $30 million) in Zambia including all administrative and technical aspects of project implementation. Developed and implemented annual work plan and performance monitoring plan. Integrated EDC’s Read Right Now! approach to literacy instruction into the project. • Performed market research for new business development, wrote sections of technical proposals, and assisted in cost proposal development.

• Provided technical assistance to write teachers' guides, scripts, master plans, and training for a USAID funded radio program in Zambia on life skills and health education for primary-aged students in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

• Managed several international education projects in the East and Southern Africa Regional Center including Zambia Quality Education Services through Training and Technology (QUESTT), Sudan Radio Service (SRS), Sudan Civic Education and the Uganda Program for Human and Holistic Development (UPHOLD); • Managed all administrative tasks for projects, review and track budgets, financial projections, travel, expenditures, pipelines, communication with field offices; • Assisted with proposals; performed research related to new business initiatives.

• Conducted desk reviews of best practices for science and health education programs internationally. • Re-designed structure of study abroad program in Niger

• Recruited, managed, and trained 130 literacy tutors for Boston public schools working with children in grades K-5. Training topics included tutoring skills, literacy activities, and learning disabilities.

• Wrote and edited several proposals and concept papers to expand existing projects and elaborate new projects. Proposals themes focused on peace education and conflict management, community radios development, food security, microfinance, and youth

• Provided administrative support to portfolio of USAID and UN funded projects including budget and deliverable tracking, conference coordination, quarterly reports, procurement, and proposal writing.

• Taught two English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes at intermediate and beginner levels.

Thesis: "Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities: A Pilot Project to Improve Health Education in Primary Schools and Communities in Niger"

Cultural Anthropology and Regional Studies and Africa and the Middle East